Our Opinion: Parent trigger

Senate kills a bill that goes too far

Who could argue against parents' involvement in their children's education?

It is known that the earlier parents become involved in a child's education, the greater the effect they have. And schools are more likely to succeed when parents volunteer, communicate and even help in decision-making through parent-teacher organizations.

But in the case of the "Parent Empowerment in Education" bill - more commonly known as the parent trigger - that participation can go too far. That's why, for the second year in a row, the Florida Senate has rejected - by a 20-20 vote each time - the parent trigger.

The idea of the trigger is that a majority of parents whose children attend a failing school can choose a particular option in a turnaround plan. Those options including having a private company take over management of the school or even turning the public school into a charter school.

It's this last option that prompts opponents to call the parent trigger a giveaway to for-profit charter school companies.

In House Bill 867, passed by the House, the local school district would have had to follow the parents' recommendation - or turn the decision over to the state Board of Education. A Senate amendment gave the local district the last word, but that wasn't enough to ensure passage.

"This bill depends on professional lobbyists and outside forces ... to persuade parents in a challenged school to transfer a valuable public asset from the jurisdiction of an elected school board into the hands of a corporation," Florida Education Association President Andy Ford said after Tuesday's vote.

It is important to remember that a public school is owned by all taxpayers - not just the parents whose children attend it at a certain time.

And parents already have opportunities to weigh in on what a failing school can do to reverse its fortunes. In fact, the parent trigger bill has drawn opposition from most parents' groups in Florida.

We need involved parents. We need parents who will speak to school boards and superintendents and demand improvement. We need parents willing to work with those failing schools.

What we don't need is to have for-profit corporations lobbying parents to shut down or privatize a public school. It's unlikely we've heard the last of the parent trigger, but at least it's dead for another year.